Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District to begin cleanup of contaminated sludge

Friday

Oct 25, 2013 at 6:47 PM

The clean-up is on at Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District.

By FELICIA KITZMILLERfelicia.kitzmiller@shj.com

The clean-up is on at Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District.With long-awaited S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control approval in-hand, sewer district commissioners selected Clean Harbors, of Laurel, Md., to decontaminate and dispose of more than 840,000 gallons of sludge containing toxic levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. PCBs are toxins known to be linked to a variety of ailments including cancer and outlawed in the U.S. in 1979. The SSSD, the city of Lyman and Greenville-based Renewable Water Resources have been coping with sludge contaminated by PCBs since June. The contamination is thought to be connected to illegal dumping. At least one grease trap in each of the affected areas was found to be contaminated with PCBs. The clean-up is expected to start next week at the Lower North Tyger treatment facility and will conclude at the Fairforest plant at the end of the month.Clean Harbors will be responsible for filtering, treating and disposing of the sludge. The company will also decontaminate the 42 containers SSSD rented to contain the infected sludge. The $1.7 million contract is based on an estimated amount of sludge and could fluctuate depending on the actual amount of material that needs to be treated, said Rebecca West, chief operating officer at Spartanburg Water.Another company, Spartanburg-based JBR Environmental Services, is also working to clean two pump stations with elevated levels of PCBs. The stations are the last two sewage flows through before entering the Lower North Tyger treatment facility. Each one is more than 40 feet below ground.The contaminated stations were identified in September, and are thought to be the result of settled sludge making its way through the sewer system, West said."We're speculating that this is contaminated sludge washing through the system," she said. JBR Environmental's contract to clean the pump stations is for $15,000. Special pumps, to divert water around the stations, also had to be obtained at a cost of $24,000. The SSSD is also planning a forced flush of lines feeding the pump stations in hopes of washing all of the sludge through the lines to avoid the costs of a second clean-up. That forced flush is not included in JBR Environmental's existing contract, West said.The process of containing, decontaminating and disposing of the PCBs is expected to cost $2.5 million when completed, West said."This is one of the largest projects I've been involved with in a long time," she said.To protect plants from future contamination, SSSD has issued new regulations requiring grease-disposing customers to secure grease traps and test their contents prior to pumping. Testing for PCBs costs about $170 to $200. Most of the sewer district's customers have their traps pumped quarterly, leading to an annual cost of $680 to $800. Some customers have their traps pumped monthly, and testing could cost $2,040 to $2,400 annually. If customers do not test grease traps before they are brought to the Fairforest treatment facility, the grease will be placed in a large tank. At the end of the week, SSSD will test the tank. If it is positive for PCBs, sewer district officials will trace the contamination back to the business with the infected grease trap and the owner will have to pay for the decontamination of the sludge tank. West estimated such a clean-up to cost $50,000. West said haulers and customers were consulted about the new regulation, but she expects it will be tailored as issues develop in implementation. "We wanted to make a change quickly to further protect our facility," she said.